Tag Archives: Alex Moore

December 12, 2011 · 11:43 pm

Strong Finish Gives Pentucket Girls 2011 Provident Bank Tip Off Classic 44-37 Over Newburyport

Beth Castantini surrounded by three Pentucket players.

Game MVP Coley Viselli puts up layup in traffic.

(Newburyport) Two of the best girls’ teams in the area opened the 2011-12 basketball season against each other in the Provident Bank Tip Off Classic on Monday night.

A strong final quarter gave the visiting Pentucket Sachems a 44-37 win over the Newburyport Clippers.

Pentucket (20-5 in 2010-11) predictably came at the Clippers in defensive waves all over the court and let the long ones fly with abandon on offense. Sometimes it worked……….sometimes it didn’t.

After a fast start (3-for-5) Pentucket’s long ball accuracy vanished, as 2-for-16 the rest of the way would suggest. But three minutes into the final quarter junior Alex Moore hit one and was fouled by Meri Adsit. Alex completed the 4-point play to give the Sachems a 39-33 advantage.

Newburyport rallied nearly all the way back after trailing, 18-4, early in the second quarter. Pitiful Pentucket shooting in the 3rd quarter (1-for-13) opened the door for the Clippers (5-for-9 shooting) to erase a 27-14 halftime deficit. A Lea Tomasz three with two seconds left put this one in the “very interesting” category (31-29) with a quarter left.

Leigh McNamara (25) sails in for a first half layup.

As I said, Alex Moore hit a huge three in the final quarter but it was the Pentucket pressure over the final 5+ minutes that really did in the Clippers. The pressure seemed to work best in the half-court as there were no turn-2’s (steal and get a layup) in the decisive final minutes.

Newburyport got within one (32-31) on a Lea Tomasz converted rebound and two (35-33) on a Beth Castantini jump shot with 5:40 left.

Plenty of time left and certainly close enough score-wise for the home team to pull the upset.

However, the Pentucket defense gave up only one point (Beth Castantini free throw) over the next 5 ½ minutes! Molly Rowe hit a three with a few seconds left but by then, as they say in farm country, the cows had left the barn.

The shocking numbers for the Clippers during those game-deciding 5 ½ minutes were: one point in eleven possessions, eight turnovers, three shots in one possession and only one shot in the other ten. Those are dream/nightmare numbers depending on which bench you were sitting on.

Speaking of nightmares, Clipper coach Gregg Dollas will probably remember this game for a while as one where he learned something about the numbers on his players’ uniforms.

Cady Bennett

As the game was about to start the Clippers were assessed a technical foul because Cady Bennett was in the scorebook as #14 but was wearing #21. Coley Viselli sank both technical foul shots.

Later in the first quarter, Lilly Donovan was put in the game wearing #9. Players can’t wear single digit numbers above 5.…….probably because officials can’t finger signal 6-9 without possibly confusing the scorekeepers. Coley made one of the technical foul shots.

That’s three points, and in a close game like this one, they were a tough giveaway.

Coley Viselli was chosen MVP of the game. Good thing they didn’t ask me. I’d have given it either to teammate Sarah Higgins and her 16 points or to Alex Moore for her 4th quarter heroics. Alex had the 4-point play and less than a minute before that had an old-fashioned 3-point play. Those seven points were huge in this low scoring game.

Molly McDonough and Molly Rowe were given student/athlete scholarships afterwards thanks to Provident Bank.

A good crowd of Sachem support was on hand.

We saw the debut of a couple of Pentucket freshman – McKenna Kilian & Kelsi McNamara.

The Clippers will be able to count on points from seniors Beth Castantini (15) and Molly Rowe (11). Bettering last year’s 13-7 record could well depend on steady scoring from other players.

Molly Rowe gets student-athlete scholarship from Coach Gregg Dollas.

Tess Nogueira and Leigh McNamara both spent time defending Beth Castantini. Both players picked up their fourth foul in the final period.

The quickness and all-out approach of junior Meri Adsit was impressive.

Newburyport box score

Pentucket box score

(The pictures will enlarge to normal size if you click on them.)

Beth Castantini (10) & Leigh McNamara (25)

Coley Viselli – Lilly Donovan – Sarah Higgins

Tess Nogueira (32) & Mary Pettigrew (33)

Pentucket coach John McNamara

Beth Castantini

Meri Adsit (5) & Sydney Snow (3)

Leave a comment

Filed under 2011 Provident Bank Tip Off Classic, Newburyport, Pentucket

Tagged as Alex Moore, Beth Castantini, Coach Gregg Dollas, Coach John McNamara, Coley Viselli, Molly McDonough, Molly Rowe, Sarah Higgins, Tess Nogueira

November 6, 2011 · 11:11 pm

Newburyport Gets By Pentucket 2-1 in Girls Soccer to Reach Quarter Finals

Carly Brand (11) heads the ball into the net past Pentucket goalie Sam Bomba.

Leigh McNamara had the Pentucket goal.

(Newburyport) The Newburyport Clippers defeated Pentucket, 2-1, in the First Round of the Division 2 North girls soccer tournament on Sunday afternoon at sunny Cherry Hill Field.

Carly Brand’s head-in on Hannah Martin’s direct kick, three minutes into the second half, proved to be the game winner.

The Clippers (14-2-3) face Belmont (9th seed – 10-4-3) in the Quarter Finals on Tuesday at 2PM back again at Cherry Hill. Belmont played at home last year as the #1 seed and took out the Clippers.

The Sachems (7-7-5) figured to be tired (they had beaten North Reading on the road the day before) and overmatched by Newburyport (the Clippers had defeated them 3-0 in October). Someone forgot to tell Pentucket about this.

Down 2-0 early in the second half, the Sachems finally got a goal 32:20 into the half as Leigh McNamara was on the scoring end of a pass from Maddy Torissi in close to NHS goalie Lilly McNamara.

Unfortunately, for Pentucket they weren’t able to muster a serious threat thereafter. They will probably wonder for some time about the disallowed goal (offsides) that was headed in at the twenty-minute mark. Put that goal on the board with the Leigh McNamara goal and who knows what would have happened down the stretch.

Julia Kipp (2) and Jaycie Triandafilou (19) watch the shot of Liza Twomey go into the net past the PHS goalie.

Liza Twomey notched the Clippers’ first goal thirty-five minutes into the first. Two things about the Newburyport forwards are that they are fast and persistent. In this case it was “fast” that did the trick as Liza started about midfield with the ball and raced by the Sachem defenders for an open shot from the right on PHS goalie Sam Bomba.

Newburyport’s second goal featured probably the most dangerous player in the Cape Ann League taking direct kicks – Hannah Martin. She can hit the ball hard and she’s usually going to have the ball be close to the net. This time the direct kick came from just up from the corner kick flag to the right of the goal. Carly broke for the far corner just as the ball was kicked and was in perfect position to head Hannah’s kick past Sam Bomba.

Once Pentucket fell behind they attempted to press the attack. The Clippers ended up with some excellent scoring opportunities (Kerry Johnson & Jaycie Triandafilou) but defender Sarah Higgins and goalie Sam Bomba denied a third goal.

The weather was in the mid-50s with some wind. The crowd was sizable although it was hard to tell when the crowd is relegated to one side.

This was only the second time I have been kept away from the goal line. I probably would have missed Carly’s head-in if I had been located where I wanted to be.

Haley DesRosiers gets a yellow card.

Haley DesRosiers surprised me in the second half by giving Meghan Corbett a two-hander that dropped the Clipper captain to the ground. Less surprising was the yellow card Haley got and the escort by the official to the sideline.

PHS coach Greg Scruton got in the way of a ball going out of bounds and put on a bit of a juggling show. I’m told he was quite a player at Gordon College.

(I take my own pictures and collect my own information. The mistakes are mine.) Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them to normal size.

Sam Bomba robs Jaycie Triandafilou

Kerry Johnson shot

Sarah Higgins & Liza Twomey

Alex Moore

Carly Brand

NHS cross over

Hannah Martin

Leave a comment

Filed under Newburyport, Pentucket

Tagged as Alex Moore, Carly Brand, Coach Greg Scruton, Haley DesRosiers, Hannah Martin, Jaycie Triandafilou, Leigh McNamara, Lexi Heusser, Liza Twomey, Sarah Higgins

March 9, 2011 · 11:29 pm

St. Mary’s Holds On to Edge Pentucket Girls 62-60 in D3 North Semi-Finals

St. Mary’s celebrates their semi-final win over Pentucket.

(Wilmington) The Pentucket girls took an excruciating exit in the Division 3 North semi-finals coming up just short in a 62-60 loss to St. Mary’s of Lynn on Wednesday night at Wilmington High School.

Kirsten Ferrari – 13 points

Cassi Amenta – key rebound and free throw in last minute

This was the third straight year that these two teams have met in the D3 North semis and the first time that the Spartans were successful. They now move on to the Tsongas Center on Saturday where they will play the winner of the Stoneham/Ipswich game being played at Wilmington on Thursday night.

This game was tied (47-47) with five minutes left and you just knew it would be a close finish. Actually St. Mary’s scored the next four points (layups by Cassi Amenta and Tori Faieta) and never trailed thereafter although the Sachems were a made shot away from overtime or a regulation win.

With the pressure mounting, Coley Viselli hit a three from the top of the key with forty seconds left and suddenly Pentucket was within one (57-56).

Tori Faieta (#32) hit two last-minute free throws

Tori Faieta followed with two free throws while Sarah Higgins made one and we had a two-point game (59-57) with twenty-nine seconds left.

Pentucket then gave the quick foul to freshman Sharell Sanders. When Sharell missed, teammate Cassi Amenta got the rebound, got fouled and drained two free throws in what may have been the biggest sequence of this game, giving the Spartans a four-point cushion (61-57) with twenty-five seconds left.

Those free throws became real important when Coley Viselli hit yet another three, this time from the left corner to make it a one-point game again (61-60) with fourteen seconds left.

The Sachems followed with another quick foul and sent Kirsten Ferrari to the line. Because Pentucket was over the limit she had two free throws. She missed the first and made the second and so it was 62-60 with nine seconds left.

Coley Viselli (18 points) heads for the corner for this game’s last shot.

You knew the last shot would be Coley from somewhere. She dribbled into the left-hand corner with Kirsten Ferrari guarding her and took what looked like a 2-pointer to me that wasn’t close to going in and the game ended in the scramble for the rebound.

The key for the Spartans was having experienced seniors (Kirsten Ferrari, Cassi Amenta, Tori Faieta) step up down the stretch. Cassi’s offensive rebound of a missed free throw followed by two made free throws couldn’t have come at a better time for St. Mary’s.

Pentucket (20-5) now knows what St. Mary’s felt like the past two years when their season ended in the semi-finals. With the nucleus Pentucket returns next season you’d like to believe that they could well be back in another D3 North semi-finals next season with more experienced players.

The Sachems had a classic good/bad first half. In the first quarter they collected twenty-three points (23-16 lead) on ten-for-eighteen shooting with no turnovers. In the second quarter, the same team scored only THREE points making just one-of-fourteen shots and turning the ball over seven times.

There is no way to explain how such a thing happens but I do know that it left Pentucket trailing, 29-26, at halftime.

St. Mary’s still had the three-point lead (41-38) after three quarters.

An early layup by Sarah Higgins (assist to Alex Moore) put Pentucket within one before consecutive three’s from Kirsten Ferrari and Sharell Sanders gave the edge to the Spartans, 47-40, 1 ½ minutes into the final quarter.

The Sachems rallied with seven straight (47-47) – Vanessa Cahill layup from Sarah Higgins, a 3-pointer by Coley Viselli off the backboard, and a Tess Noguiera layup.

This set the stage for the final five minutes which ended with the Spartans celebrating a trip to the D3 North finals.

The Spartans (21-4) had four players in double figures – Kirsten Ferrari (13), Tori Faieta (12), Sharell Sanders (11) and Brianna Rudolph (10).

sophomore Tess Nogueira (13 points) shoots over Cassi Amenta and Tori Faieta

Pentucket was led by Coley Viselli (18), including eleven in the final quarter, Sarah Higgins (14) and Tess Noguiera (13).

This makes two tough basketball losses in two days for Pentucket. The boys bowed out to Newburyport on Tuesday night. Ironically, in both games bad second quarters had a bearing on the losses.

( I collect my own stats and take my own pictures. I draw my own conclusions. Mistakes happen……..unintentionally.)

Leave a comment

Filed under Pentucket, St. Mary's

Tagged as Alex Moore, Cassi Amenta, Coley Viselli, Kirsten Ferrari, Pentucket girls basketball, Sarah Higgins, Sharell Sanders, St. Mary's girls basketball, Tess Noguiera, Tori Faieta, Vanessa Cahill

February 28, 2011 · 11:42 pm

Pentucket Defense Overwhelms Watertown Girls 52-22 in D3 North First Round

Gabby Coppala (#10) defended by Vicky Castiglione (#20)

Vanessa Cahill blocks Casey Halle’s shot.

(West Newbury) We’ve seen it before in the early rounds of the MIAA girls basketball tournament. A team from another conference gets to play Pentucket. They know that the Sachems press but don’t have the time to get fully prepared.

Watertown (7-14) from the Middlesex League was Pentucket’s first round opponent this year and predictably found out the hard way what end-to-end defense looks like, losing, 52-22, on Monday night.

Pentucket will host Weston (14-7) on Thursday night at Pentucket in the quarter finals of Division 3 North play.

The visiting Red Raiders struggled to get the ball up the court and only the dribbling skills of freshman Gabby Coppala minimized the backcourt turnovers.

Sarah Higgins forces one of Watertown’s twenty-eight turnovers.

Even in the frontcourt, running an offense was difficult and Pentucket’s size discouraged layups and second chances.

It took Watertown 3 ½ minutes to score (Gabby Coppala layup) their first basket and another four minutes to score their second (Casey Halle) layup.

Meanwhile, Pentucket rang up twenty points. They made six-of-seven free throws and had two 3’s from Coley Viselli.

Off to a 20-4 first quarter, Pentucket used the same formula (relentless defense) to put together a 15-4 second quarter. Besides shutting down Watertown, the Sachems dominated the boards and turned up free throws (thirteen) by going to the basket and rebounding missed shots.

Sarah Higgins picked up seven points in the second quarter.

Pentucket led, 35-8, at the half. This was a game begging for the Mercy Rule (softball) instead of a second half. I overheard one couple from Watertown discussing whether they should stay for the second half!

Freshmen Sydney Snow (#3) and Liza Brackbill (#22) see some late-game action for Pentucket.

But they did play the second half and Pentucket played everyone. The scoring highlight from the second half was an eleven-point run by the Sachems during the first 4 ½ minutes of the final quarter. The scoring in this streak was provided by Alex Moore (layup), Coley Viselli (3-pointer), Sarah Higgins (layup & 2 free throws), and Tess Nogueira (2 free throws).

Sarah, Tess, and Coley all finished with eleven points.

Freshman Gabby Coppala (11 points) of Watertown was impressive. The young guard was an excellent dribbler and passer in the midst of never-ending pressure. Pentucket double-teamed her and tried hard to keep the ball away from her.

The statistics reveal the extent of the success of the Pentucket defense. They forced twenty-eight turnovers, including seventeen in the first half when this game was decided. The Raiders were 0-for-11 from long range and just 18% (9-for-50) overall from the floor.

Plenty of positives to take away from this one regarding Pentucket’s defense.

Their offense? The stats from this game tell me that they’re going to have to get a lot better with the ball if they are going to go very far in the tournament.

Yes, they collected 52 points. And yes, they played everybody. But twenty-four turnovers! That’s a lot of empty possessions against an undersized team that didn‘t trap.

Pentucket shot 20% (3-for-15) from long range and 30% (15-for-50) overall from the floor. Plenty of high-percentage attempts didn’t fall.

Tess Nogueira free throw attempt

Free throw shooting was another problem area – 61.2% (19-for-31). Tess missed six including one that didn‘t hit anything.

An area of strength was the offensive rebounding. Vanessa Cahill and Tess Nogueira were terrific in this area.

Weston (14-7) is the next opponent and judging by their record I would expect a tougher game. However, if Pentucket keeps bringing that terrific defense and sharpens their ball management and shooting they’ll be fine, I suspect.

(I collect my own stats and take my own pictures. I write my own captions and draw my own conclusions. Mistakes are unintentional.)

Leave a comment

Filed under Pentucket, Watertown

Tagged as Alex Moore, Coley Viselli, Gabby Coppala, Liza Brackbill, Pentucket girls basketball, Sarah Higgins, Sydney Snow, Tess Nogueira, Vanessa Cahill, Vicky Castiglione, Watertown girls basketball